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Purewal flays SAD, SGPC for arbitrary changes in Nanakshahi Calender

Talking to the media, Purewal said the SGPC and the Akali leadership had done a heinous crime by intermingling Nanakshah...

17 Feb 2011, AMRITSAR: Pal Singh Purewal - the architect of the Nanakshahi calendar Thursday openly took the SGPC and Akali leadership to task for mixing the Nanakshahi calendar with Bikrami and resolved not to rest in peace till the arbitrary decision of the SGPC to alter the calendar was not revoked.

Notably, the Nanakshahi Calendar was developed by a Canadian Sikh, Pal Singh Purewal, a retired computer engineer. He started work on the calendar way back in 1960s.
In a communiqué addressed to the Akal Takht jathedar he urged him to revert to the original calendar adopted on 28 March 2003 by suspending the so-called amendments as the move had widened the gulfs within the Sikh community.

In scathing observations made during press meet at Dal Khalsa head office in Amritsar, he said the Nanakshahi Calendar was an identity marker for the Sikh community and the changes have killed the spirit of the almanac.

Accompanied by Manjit Singh Calcutta and Kanwar Pal Singh, Purewal said these so-called changes in the Nanakshahi Calendar have diluted the uniqueness of the Sikh almanac. “All communities and faiths have their own calendar as a mark of their distinct cultural identity”, said he.

He said after the so-called changes the mix-up calendar was no longer the Nanakshahi calendar. Ironically, it's Nanakshahi only in name and that's meant to hoodwink the Sikhs.

Dal Khalsa leader Kanwarpal Singh rejected the so-called amendments and supported the original version as it emphasized separate identity of Sikhs from Hindus. He said the changes in the calendar were made to appease Sant Samaj. To a question, he revealed that there’s been a electoral deal between Sant Samaj and Badal Dal for the ensuing SGPC elections.

Coming down heavily on the SGPC head Avtar Singh Makkar, veteran Akali leader Manjit Singh Calcutta said the height of his shamelessness was demonstrated in his conduct as he toed the dictates of his political bosses and tampered with the calendar- the symbol of Sikh separate identity.

Fri Feb 18 2011: The ongoing controversy over the amendments made by the Akal Takht and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee in the Nanakshahi Calendar last year took yet another turn with Canada-based Sikh engineer Pal Singh Purewal, the maker of the calendar, terming the changes “unnecessary”, “misleading” and “conspired by RSS”. He said the SGPC made the amendments in a hush-hush manner on the dictates of its “political masters” under the RSS.

Talking to the media, Purewal said the SGPC and the Akali leadership had done a heinous crime by intermingling Nanakshahi Calendar with Bikrami Calendar. “This is no amendment but total drift towards Bikrami Calendar,” he said, adding that the decision was arbitrary and the original version of the calendar, as adopted in 2003, should be restored.

A retired computer engineer, Purewal started working on the calendar in the 1960s and prepared it according to Sikh religious traditions and Gurbani to observe the gurpurabs and Sikh historic dates. He also wrote an open letter to Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh, urging him to revert to the original calendar.